I thought a significant decision was approved by most of the team and widely accepted; when my colleagues agreed, they assured me that it was an excellent decision. As we learn from experiences, I found the Great Decision is The Decision that everyone can live with, but no one is happy with.

By Emile Fakhoury
We can learn with experience whether a decision was good or bad, but if you had a checklist to analyze your decision, you could predict if it is likely to be good or bad. I have developed several tips for Great Decisions that I keep on my notes anytime am in need to make a decision:

1-Gather information and points of view:

Collect relevant information before you make your decision from various internal and external sources to your organization. Do your research well and choose suitable sources to analyze your case.

To effectively find a solution and a decision, we should seek valuable inputs and reliable sources to gather all details.

2-Weight evidence and address the root cause:

Start by assessing the collected information and weighing the evidence as you know the impact on your organization and stakeholders; this will help you take the wise step toward your decision.

Your decision should be able to fix a problem and address the root cause, not the peripheries of the case; while it is good to learn about the symptoms, you must address the leading root cause so you don’t have to repeat this task be inefficient.

3-Balance short and long terms goals:

Sometimes, decision-making needs more details or different types of information to explore.

Assessing risks and objectives will help determine your decision's consequences and its impact on the organization. For an optimum decision, a balance between short- and long-term goals and benefits is required. We sometimes don’t pay sufficient attention to the long-term implications of our choices. Finding the right balance between short-term and long-term considerations is key to unlocking actual value.

4-Communication and Planning

Use your communication plan or build a new plan considering the organization's requirements to justify your decision. It is essential to obtain approval or agreement and bring everyone in your team to the same understanding of the issues and decision planning.

Planning your decision is critical to your project schedule and budget as it has consequences that will impact your project or organization.

Finally, with your commitment to prospectively evaluating your decisions, you will find yourself able to make better decisions faster than you’ve ever done before. Learning it will accelerate your development and lift the performance of your team.

The higher up you go, the more significant this skill’s impact on your organization’s culture and performance.